Wessex "Student"
In , the Wessex "Student" was the aircraft which Biggles, Algy and ginger choose to use for their secret mission to Lucrania. The insertion phase required Algy to fly the aircraft by night to twenty thousand feet and glide over the border and then for Biggles and Ginger to drop by parachute. The extraction phase required Algy to perform a night landing at an unprepared field, which he may not have have an opportunity to reconnoitre before and guided only by signal lights. To suit such a mission, Biggles needed a reliable aircraft. In his words, it would be "a four-seater with manoeuvrability as the first consideration." Performance was not the priority. The aircraft had to be stable, easy to fly and capable of being put down on a small field, possibly rough ground. It should be light, have wheel brakes and a wide undercarriage for stability. For this purpose, Ginger suggested a Wessex "Student" (the Student part always occurs within either double or single quotes in the text). Biggles agreed to this and the government commandeered a recently built one for their use. There is of course, no such aircraft by this name. Several suitable actual aircraft types existed at the time of the story. However, it has been suggested that, during this time, Johns had to be careful to avoid endorsing any particular commercially available aircraft type because he was the editor of a prominent aviation magazine.John Donald, “Otters, Tarpons and Gadflys,” Biggles Flies Again Vol. 2 No. 7 (2006) This would be true in this case as Biggles' list of selection criteria for the aircraft certainly sounded like a very strong endorsement of its qualities. Therefore if Johns took some pains to hide what plane he had in mind, we will have to attempt to uncover it based on clues in the text. Besides fitting Biggles' selection criteria stated above, the "Student" also had the following features, according to the text: *It was a British type. The British government was able to commandeer one from the production line (chapter 3). *it had a single engine (consistent mention of engine in the singular at various points in the text). *it was a low wing monoplane. In chapter III, it is stated that Biggles "opened the door and crept carefully out on to the port wing" before sliding off the trailing edge of the wing to commence his parachute jump. Ginger similarly "crept out on to the wing" and "closed the door behind him". These actions are only possible with a low wing monoplane with the cabin door positioned in a certain way. In the French translation of Secret Agent published by Lefrancq, the illustrator imagined the "Student" as a De Havilland Dragon Rapide, going to the extent of painting the word "Student" on the nose. However this is not plausible as the Dragon Rapide has two engines and it is impossible to exit the cabin door and climb on to the wing while in flight. The cabin door is considerably to the rear of the wing. Going by the similarity of the name, there is a Westland Wessex (not the 1960s helicopter but a 1930s airliner). This aircraft was known for its reliability and short field landing ability but it had three engines and had a high wing. Possible candidates There are only a few light passenger/touring aircraft of that era that might fit the description given in the text: *Airspeed Courier **It is a six-seater (though Biggles wouldn't have minded) **the cabin door is set a bit far back to enable stepping onto the wing. Access was typically by a ladder and passengers did not need to step onto the wing.See photo here, for example. *Percival Vega Gull **This development of the Gull, seats four and access is by a door giving access to the port side.See for example this page on aviatrix Jean Batten. She is standing on the port wing of her Vega Gull. *Percival Proctor **This venerable aircraft, so common in the postwar Air Police stories, actually has a cabin door to the port side wing and would have been ideal. Note the "academic" name. But it first flew in October 1939, World War Two had already started! The Miles Falcon and other Miles tourers of the era had a similar arrangements but they had a single cabin door which only opened on the starboard side. Biggles exited onto the port wing. References External Links *wikipedia:Westland IV *wikipedia:Airspeed Courier *wikipedia:Miles Falcon *wikipedia:Miles Merlin *wikipedia:Percival Vega Gull Category:Aircraft Category:Aircraft (canonical works)